Threshing-machine.



A. 0. LEN.

THRESHING ACHlNE.

Hummm ,mm SEPLM. 19u.

Paented 31m. 14, 1919.

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.ANDREW 0. LOEN, OF HOWARD, SGUTH DAKOTA,

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Speciacation of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 14, 1919.

Application tiled September 24, 1917. Serial No. 192,929.

To all whom. t 'may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW O. LonN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Howard, in the county of Miner and State of South Dakota, have invented new and useful Improvements in Threshing-Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a threshing machine of the type driven by a long belt from a suitable source of power such as a gasolene engine, with means whereby the toothed cylinder of the threshing machine may be readily and quickly disconnected from the drive belt, while the belt is still traveling, in case the main cylinder of the machine becomes jammed, or forany reason it is desirable that the separator attendant should quickly disconnect the inaincylinder of the separator from the driving ower. Further objects wili appear from tV e detailed description to follow and from the appended claims. In the drawings,in whichan embodiment of my invention is shown, Fi re 1 is a side elevation showing threshingrmachine or separator, driven by a long belt from a gasolene engine. Fig. Q is a detail sectional vier? substantially on the line 2 2 of Fig, 1, showing the clutch. Fig. 3 is a section substantially on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

Referring now to the drawings in detail,

the threshing machine or separator' 10 may be Vin the main of any suitaljgle or usual type, comprising a casing 11 in which the separat ing' mechanism is inclosed, a toothed cyliner 12V to which the grain is fed, and a pneumatic stacker 13 through which the straw is dischared after the grain has been separated there rom, a fan 14 for furnishing the wind for the pneumatic stacker 13, and a b'eltjpulleyY 15 for driving the Vshaft 16, to which the toothed cylinder is secured.

YThe fan 14 is driven from the beit pulley 151SQHI1 0n the shaft 16, on which the toothed cylinder 12 is secured, by means of a belt'htiaveling over the alley 15, and over abeltY pulley 18, V'secure to the shaft of the reali. i

The toothed cylinder 12 is driven from the gasolene engine 19 by means of a long belt 20 which extends over the belt pulley 21 on thegasolene engine 19, and over a belt pulleyl Q2, which is Aslldably mounted on the cylinder` shaft 16, whereby the hub Q3 of the pulley 22 may be moved into and out of driving relation with respect to the hub 2.1 of the belt pulley 15, which is fast to the cylinder shaft 16. The engagement between the hubs Q4 and Q3 is effected by means of a, pair of arcuate projections 25 extending from the huh E24 and engaging correspond ing depressions or recesses in the hub 23, the straight or squared shoulders or Vside edges of the projections Q5 engaging the shoulders or corresponding side edges formed by the walls of said recesses, when the pulley 22 is shifted over toward the pulley 15. These straight or squared edges. parallel with the axis of the shaft, afford interengalging surfaces for the transmittal of the power from the belt or pulley to the shaft, but may be readily separated by the lever mechanism when it is desired to disconnect the power from the machine', and at other times there is no undue strain placed on said lever mechanism because said shoulders do Ynot tend to separate longitudinally under the strain of working. Y

The shifting of the pulley 22 is effected by means of a hand lever :26, a link 2? suitably connected with the handle 9.6, a lever 28 to which the link 27a is pivotally connected, and a collar Q9 mounted inV an annular groove 30 in the hub 23, to which `the lever 28 is Connected. The lever 26 may he pivotally mounted at 31 on a quadrant 31a which isattached to a. bracket 32, secured to the frame 33 of the separator, and may be provided with a latch 34 for engagement with the notches V35 and 36 of the quadrant 31a. The lever 28 may be pivoted at 38 on a bracket 39 which may be secured to the bracket 32. The lever 28 may be formed of two straps or bars of metal secured tos gether by means of bolts and nuts 40. These straps form a fork 41V which straddles the end of the link 27a, whichispivoted in said fork. The straps also diverge at their upper ends to forma` pair of arms 42, having openings to receive the trunnions 43 of the collar 29. The collar 29 may be V'formed in two semi-circular halves secured together by means of bolts 44 extending through openings in l5 on the two halves of the collar. Y

The operation is as follows:

The separator 1l. is placed in the desired location, the engine 19 is lined up with the separator to bring the pulleys 21 and 22 into alinement, the belt 20 is placed over the pulleys 21 and 22, and the hand lever 26 is moved td the position shown in Fig. 2, in which the hubs 23 and 2l are in cngagement. The engine 19 is then started up to drive the various parts of the separator 11, the toothed cylinder 12 being then driven from the belt 20, which drives the pulley 22, Which in turn drives the hub 24C of the pulley 15, which is secured by a key on the cylinder shaft 18. rlhe fan 14: driven from the pulley 15 by means of the belt 17 which extends over the pulley 15 and also over the pulley 18. The other movable parts of the separating mechanism are driven in any suitable manner, not shown in detail.

It sometimes happens that the toothed cylinder 12 or other parts of the separator mechanism become jammed or choked, usually on account of the grain being Wet or being fed to the machine too fast. This practically stops the cylinder, or slows it down. The drive belt 20 is usually a very heavy, strong belt, and the engine is frequently as high as sixty horse power, so that the separator mechanism is subjected to a very sudden heavy strain when it begins to choke, and sometimes is liable to break unless the machine is shut down at once. When a steam engine was used to furnish the power, it. was necessary to have an attendant near the engine practically all the time in order to keep it supplied with fuel and Water. When the gasolene engine came into use, however, attempts were made to dispense With a separate attendant for the engine, and to have one man attend to both the engine and the separator, as a gasolene engine did not require constant attention as did the steam engine. Vith this arrangement, with an attendant always near the engine, in case the separator began to choke, the engineer would probably notice the difference in its running, or would be notified by the separator attendant, and would at once shut ofl' the power.

This left the attendant free to take charge of the separator most of the time. vHowever, if the separator began to choke down, the attendant had to run over back to tht` engine before he could shut oft' the power. As the engine is usually located from to feet from the separator, it often. happened that damage Was done to ,the separator efore the attendant could run back and shut off the power.

Furthermore, with a gasolene engine, even When a separate attendant was provided for the engine, the noise of the explosion would frequently prevent him from noticing that the separator was choked down and would prevent him from hearing the directions of the separator attendant, so that it would frequently happen Legnaia that damage would be done to the separator before the power could be shut olf.

Furthermore. even if the power was shut off as promptly as possible, the momentum of the heavy belt and the moving parts of 70 the engine would still cause a heavy strain on the separator mechanism When the latter ber-ame choked.

In the ease of the present invention, when the attendant sees that the separator is becoming jammed, he grasps the lever 26. releasing the catch 34, and pulls the lever over until the catch 34 engages the notch 36. This slides the pulley 22 longitudinally ou the shaft 16 until the hub is disengaged from the hub 24. As soon as these hubs are disengaged the pulley 22 ceases to exert a driving force on the shaft 16, and the strain is at once taken off the separator mechanism, and the attendant can then go back to the engine and shut it down. As soon as the separator is ready to start up again, the hand lever 26 is again moved back until the catch engages the notch 35. This brings the hubs 23 and 24: again into driving relation. The engine is then started up and drives the separator mechanism as before.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A threshing-machine having a rotatable toothed cylinder to which the grain is fed, a shaft on which said cylinder is mounted, a driving pulley non-rotatably mounted 100 on said shaft and having a hub provided with a clutch portion, a second drivin pulley rotatably mounted on said shaft an having a hub provided with a clutch portion for engagement With said first clutch portion, and means for shifting one of said pulleys longitudinally of said shaft to cause said clutch portions to be disengaged.

2. A threshing-machine having a rotatable toothed cylinder at one end of the machine, to which the grain is fed, a shaft on which said cylinder is mounted, a rotai able fan at the other end of the machine for expelling the straw, a shaft on Which said fan is mounted, a pulley non-rotatably mounted on said fan-shaft, a second pulley non-rotatably secured to said cylinder-shaft and having a hub provided with a clutch portion, a belt extending over said pulleys. a third pulley rotatably mounted on said cylinder-shaft and having a hub provided with a clutch portion for engagement with said first clutch portion, and means for shifting one of the pulleys on the cylinder shaft longitudinally of the cylin- 126 der-shaft to cause said clutch portions to be disengaged.

3. A threshing-machine having a rotatable toothed cylinder to which the grain is fed, a shaft on which said cylinder is 130 mounted, a driving pulley non-rotatably mounted on said shaft and having a. hub provided with a clutch portion, a second driving pulley rotatably mounted on said Shaft and havin a hub provided with a clutch portion or en agement with said first clutch portion, an means for shifting one of said pulleys longitudinally of said shaft to cause said clutch portions to be disengaged, said means comprising a movable arm extending between said pulleys and acting on the hub of the longitudinallyshiftable pulley.

4. A threshing-machine having a rotatable toothed cylinder to which the grain is fed, a shaft on which said cylinder is mounted, a driving ulley non-rotatably mounted on said shaft) and having a hub provided with a shoulder portion, a second driving pulley rotatably mounted on said shaft and having a hub provided with a shoulder portion for engagement with said rst shoulder portion, and means for shiftin one of said pulleys longitudinally of said shaft to cause Said shoulder portions to be disengaged.

5. A threshing-machine having a rotatable toothed cylinder to which the Grain is fed, a shaft on which said cylindbor is mounted, a driving pulley non-rotatably mounted on said shaft and provided with a clutch portion, a second driving pulley rotatably mounted on said shaft and having a clutch portion for engagement with said first clutch portion, an means for shifting one of said pulleys longitudinally of said shaft to cause said clutch portions to be disengaged.

ln Witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed myvname.

ANDREW 0. LOEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ive cent: each, by addressing the Commissioner a! Patents. Washington, D. U. 

